The Caribbean hubris

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The classic example of hubris can be found in the Greek tale of Icarus who escaped his island prison with wings of wax and feathers that melted when he came too close to the sun causing him to fall to his death. That in a nutshell is what is happening to our political leadership as they pirouette from disaster to disaster, believing all the while that the voters and their party members are blind to their errors.

In the world of today the sun confronted by Icarus would be in the case of Trinidad and Tobago, the president of the United States. Instead of a quick rush to the golden orb they are having a protracted journey measured in years until the next American election when they and their citizens will become the confirmed outcasts of the Caribbean. They may be forced to leave CARICOM and they will no longer be the ultimate seat of Caribbean justice. Their students will have to wonder the corners of the earth to seek a place in what Americans call college having all been rebuffed by the University of the West Indies.

There are other poor versions of Icarus in many islands.

In Jamaica, the prime minister who has impeded and delayed an integrity investigation, now asks for a status report when he is intimately knowledgeable of the state of that enquiry.

One of his prominent ministers has breached procurement rules in a very expensive acquisition and he has promised he would do the same again. Their Auditor General must feel like Peter with his finger in the dyke.

Even the small Cayman Islands has a leader who is blinded by the onset of a global minimum tax agreement that threatens to destroy their financial industry that supports a gargantuan budget. No plans or even faux press reports, just silence until the debacle.

The people of the Caribbean need not debate this common characteristic among their elected leaders. Those leaders depend on the support of their party members. Those members of parliament rely on the people for election. Unless the people speak at the ballot box or the constituency elected are infected by an outbreak of ethical behaviour, then the ultimate responsibility lays with people, business leaders, civic society groups and trade unions.

PETER POLACK

Former criminal lawyer

Cayman Islands